Chartered Management Institute: In my opinion

Sir Moir Lockhead, CEO of FirstGroup and a Companion of the Chartered Management Institute, argues that developing the ability to lead change is crucial for success.

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Published: 01 Sep 2008

Last Updated: 09 Oct 2013

From economic growth to recession, from wrestling with regulation to the
pressures of competition, from meeting the demands of local markets to
threats in the global environment, organisations face an ever-moving
array of challenges. The one constant that all leaders and managers have
to deal with is change. It is by equipping our managers to lead our
people and change our companies as they make changes to meet new
challenges that we can succeed.

Less than 20 years ago, our company ran about 200 buses serving the city
of Aberdeen, in north-east Scotland. We employed 600 staff from our
granite headquarters, and from my office window I could keep an eye on
all our buses as they left and returned to our depot.

Today, FirstGroup employs 137,000 people and runs bus and train services
across the UK, continental Europe and North America - including the US's
famous yellow school buses and the iconic Greyhound coach service - two
of the best-loved vehicles in transportation around the world. We now
move more people in 10 minutes than we used to in an entire day in
Aberdeen in the 1980s. Our business has been built by managers who have
embraced change and encouraged their staff to do so.

Most successful organisations develop a culture that welcomes change and
the opportunities it brings. In our case, we've grown our operations
through a mix of acquisition and winning local and national government
contracts. In both cases, we don't have the luxury of time in which to
change a company's culture. We are a people-intensive business, so our
priority has always been to quickly engage with new staff.

Britain's rail franchising system is a case in point. Our franchise
agreements generally run for seven years. In an industry that is more
than 150 years old, this is a short time in which to change attitudes.
The public transport industry has tended to be inward-facing and
engineering-led, rather than outward-facing and customer- focused - and
I say this as an engineer myself - so our managers have to change
attitudes over a relatively short period of time, often in the face of
real resistance.

Our leadership programme is designed to challenge those who take part,
with a large amount of coaching provided at an individual level. A great
concept we've learned about in recent years is the shadow that a leader
casts - the influence they have over their team.

The programme focuses on delivering our two core values of safety and
customer service. Safety for us is encapsulated in the principle 'If you
cannot do it safely, don't do it'. The bedrock of customer service,
meanwhile, is delivering our timetable promises to our passengers. These
sound like essential prerequisites for any transport operator, but
unless we get these right, no other value or objective can be
delivered.

It's not just about our managers. We aim to empower all our staff to
improve themselves. In a groundbreaking partnership with Unite, the
union, we've opened 44 workplace learning centres throughout the UK,
covering more than 60% of our Bus-division staff. The centres help staff
to access vocational and non-vocational courses, at times that suit
them, enabling them to develop skills - particularly literacy, numeracy
and English as a second language - that equip them to deal with the
tasks they encounter. Since the scheme began, more than 8,000 vocational
qualifications have been awarded, and a further 8,000 non-vocational
courses delivered. All our staff will have access to such a centre by
2009.

I'm confident that the graduate training schemes in our Bus, Rail and
North American divisions will provide people to pilot our growth over
the next 20 years. Graduates in our Bus division spend time in
engineering, control rooms and operations, and even learn to drive a
bus. From this year they'll spend time in our North American operations
while their opposite numbers will visit the UK to see how we do things
here. This gives them an appreciation of how the business operates and
helps them decide which area they'd like to pursue a career in.
Uniquely, First can offer graduates an MBA qualification on successful
completion of the course.

This scheme builds on our success down the years in developing our
people. I'm particularly proud of one young man who, like me, started as
an apprentice. We sponsored him to get his degree and supported him as
he developed as a manager. Today, he's the engineering director of our
Bus division, responsible for more than 9,000 vehicles - a quarter of
all the buses in the UK.

I am very excited about our most recent crop of graduates. Their
enthusiasm is infectious. It's hard to foresee the changes they will
experience, but I predict that they'll be able to manage.

- Sir Moir Lockhead is one of the keynote speakers at the Chartered
Management Institute's National Convention at the Hilton Birmingham
Metropole on 9-10 October 2008; other speakers include Ben Verwaayen KBE
and Steve Holliday. For information and bookings, please visit
www.managers.org.uk/convention08 or call 01536 207330.

- CV: Sir Moir Lockhead OBE is deputy chairman and chief executive of
FirstGroup. Sir Moir left school at 15 and enjoyed a career in
engineering before joining Grampian Regional Transport. Under his
leadership, the company - subsequently known as First - has become the
largest bus and rail operator in the UK. In June, he was awarded a
knighthood for services to transport.